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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

BILLINGSLEY – The bats for the Vincent Yellow Jackets were red hot as got out to a commanding lead over the Billingsley Bears and held off a seventh-inning comeback bid to secure the 13-10 win at Billingsley School on Friday, April 7.

In the end, the Jackets posted 20 hits as they raced ahead to a 12-2 lead midway through the game, with five of those hits coming from Fields in a strong 5-for-5 showing with four runs and two RBI.

The offense started in the first inning as McKenzie Fields overcame a two-out hole to hit a double, and Harley King drove her home with an RBI single to put Vincent up 1-0.

After the Jackets held the Bears scoreless in the bottom of the first, Billingsley got on the board in a similar way to Vincent with a two-out RBI single to bring home the runner on second.

The Jackets quickly broke the deadlock after putting runners on second and third thanks to a lead-off single by Jaci Wallace and a Fields double. King then grounded out to first to allow Wallace to score and give their team a 2-1 lead.

That was only the beginning for Vincent in the inning as Jacy Wallis hit an RBI single with two outs to make the lead 3-1. Then, Ava Waldrop singled and Chloe Mims walked to load up the bases.

The Jackets got a golden opportunity to extend the lead off a passed ball and a catcher error, and they did just that as Wallis and Waldrop came home to add another pair of runs. Maggie Walker then doubled to third to score Mims and extend the lead to 6-2.

Billingsley responded in the bottom of the third by hitting a one-out RBI triple after a pair of lead-off walks, but Grace Quinn made the play at the plate for Vincent to prevent the second run from scoring and put the Bears in a two-out jam that they couldn’t get out of.

The Jackets quickly extended their lead in the top of the fourth after Wallace hit a lead-off single and Fields followed it on the next pitch with a two-run home run to center, putting them up 8-2.

The hits just kept coming as King and Quinn hit back-to-back singles to set up Wallis with a pair of runners. Wallis then hit an RBI double to score King from second.

Waldrop then launched Vincent’s second long-ball of the inning, this time a three-run shot to center off an 0-1 pitch to make the lead 12-2.

However, in the bottom of the fourth, Billingsley hit three straight singles, the last one an RBI single to cut the deficit to nine.

The Jackets threw a wild pitch to each of the next two batters, which allowed a pair of runners to come home and made the score 12-5.

In the process, though, Mims struck out both of those batters. She then weathered another pair of singles to take the third out and dispatch of the scoring threat.

The Bears then clawed back another run in the bottom of the fifth off an RBI ground out to cut the gap to six.

Both teams excelled on defense in the sixth inning, and in the top of the seventh, Vincent came up big again in a two-out situation with a Quinn double followed by a passed ball that allowed Fields to score from third after she hit a one-out single earlier in the frame.

The Jackets had to weather one final storm before claiming victory.

After recording the first out of the bottom of the seventh, a single and a walk put runners on first and second for Billingsley. The hosts then hit an RBI single and RBI double to score both runners and make the score 13-8.

Vincent responded by securing a fly out, but on the next pitch, the Bears cut the lead to just three with an RBI double.

Wallace got out of the jam by forcing a fly out on the second pitch of the ensuing at-bat, and that sealed the 13-10 victory for the Jackets.

In addition to Fields’ perfect day at the plate, Walker went 3-for-4 with an RBI and Waldrop had three RBI in a 2-for-4.

Quinn went 3-for-5 with a run, King batted in two runs and scored one herself in a 2-for-5 day, Wallis had a 2-for-4 day with two runs and two RBI and Wallace finished the day 2-for-5 with two runs.

Mims took the win in the circle with six strikeouts in six innings, and Wallace secured the save in the seventh inning.

Vincent has a county matchup on deck for its next matchup as it will host Briarwood on Tuesday, April 9 at 4:30 p.m.